We are supervising psychotherapists registered with the
United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy since 1993. We have a private
practice and teach Symbolic Modelling to
therapists, counsellors, coaches, managers and teachers
throughout the world.

We offer consultancy to organisations as diverse as GlaxoSmithKline and The University of Yale
Child Study Center. We have used the process to
facilitate a wide range of groups and teams: from the NASA Goddard Space Center in Washington DC to the Findhorn Spiritual Community in Northern Scotland.

In the last few years James was lead trainer on the Northern School of NLP's two-year Psychotherapy
Diploma which prepares NLP Master Practitioners for accreditation with NLPtCA and subsequent registration with UKCP. We have also been involved in some interesting modelling projects which we have published on our web site: of clown trainer Vivian Gladwell;
of leading NLP'er and master modeller Robert Dilts; a number of
facilitators who are excellent at systemic outcome orientation and modelling the written word.

One of our most important contributions has been the establishment of The Developing Group in 1997. It's a regular gathering of practitioners of Symbolic Modelling and other elaborations of David Grove's work. Since October 2001 the group has been a venue for the testing of our latest developments. The majority of the notes we have provided as background reading are available on this site.

Have you ever noticed how the major turning points in life are
seldom planned? And so it was for us.

Penny: I am an American, but I have lived most of my life
in Britain. For 18 years I was a director of a company manufacturing
oil field equipment, with sales offices world-wide. Attendance at a
12-step program unexpectedly triggered a train of events that
resulted in me leaving the company, leaving my marriage, and
embarking on a journey of intense self-discovery.

James: Meanwhile, I was enjoying the benefits of being a
senior manager in the British telecommunications industry until the
day I realised that becoming a more successful businessman was not my
life purpose. I left business and set off on a year's travel which
included joining an expedition to look for undiscovered Mayan temples
in the jungle of Belize! To my surprise I discovered a long-hidden
sense of my spiritual self.

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Our paths crossed in 1991 while studying a form of applied
psychology called neuro-linguistic programming and we began a
personal and professional partnership. We became psychotherapists
registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy
(UKCP) through the
Neuro-Linguistic Psychotherapy and Counselling Association
(NLPtCA) in 1993 and established
a private practice in London.

Symbolic Modelling uses personal metaphors to facilitate
clients to work with higher levels of experience — core beliefs,
sense of identity and purpose, the spiritual -- as well as complex
and seemingly intractable issues that are not amenable to traditional
techniques. Metaphors and symbols are like threads which weave
together to create a continually unfolding tapestry — the fabric of
our existence. Metaphors are so fundamental, pervasive and embedded
in thought, word and deed that they tend to remain out of our
awareness. Through Symbolic Modelling we become aware of the way our
metaphors define our experience. Then we can create a model of how
our symbolic mind-body-spirit perceptions work together as a
perfectly functioning system. This model of self, or Metaphor
Landscape, exists as a living, breathing, dynamic, multi-dimensional
world within and around us. As we explore this symbolic world it
begins to evolve, thereby creating the conditions for a
transformative shift in the way we perceive our self and our
relationships. And as this happens, our everyday thinking, feeling
and behaviour change as well.

Our passion is using Symbolic Modelling to develop the developers
of others (therapists, counsellors, coaches, managers and teachers),
to research new applications of metaphor, and to continue our own
personal and spiritual evolution.

A more extensive introduction to Symbolic Modelling is available
at Frequently Asked Questions or in numerous
articles accessible via the Articles Categories in the left hand panel.